ARLINGTON, VA. Space writer and author Frank Sietzen, Jr. was named today as the new President of the Space Transportation Association. “We’re delighted to have Frank join us at STA during this important year, and are ready to put his 20 years of experience to work in helping to strengthen our association, and our industry,” said Tidal W. McCoy, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Space Transportation Association.

Sietzen’s appointment follows the departure of Eric W. Stallmer, who resigned last month to join Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI) as their Director of Government Relations. The Malvern, Pa.-based software firm is one of the nearly two dozen members of the association.

“I’m honored and appreciative of the trust and confidence that Mr. McCoy and the STA board has placed in me, and I’m eager to get to work to advance the cause of the U.S. commercial space transportation community,” Sietzen said.

Prior to coming to STA, Sietzen was the Director of Communications for the National Space Society at its Washington, DC headquarters, and also served as Editor-in-Chief of its bi-monthly magazine Ad Astra. Sietzen also covered space issues for United Press International wire service, and writes a regular column on space policy and transportation called Spacelift Washington at the nasawatch.com web site. He is also a contributing writer for the magazine Aerospace America, published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

In a writing career that spans more than 20 years, Sietzen has also been Space Technology Editor of Space Business News newsletter, Editor of Military Space newsletter, and the first Washington Bureau Chief for the space.com Internet news service. He has written three trade books for Pasha Publications including World Guide to Commercial Launch Vehicles, Space Station Freedom Program Guide, Guide to NASA Contracting, and is author of Apollo 11: America on the Moon, published for the 25th anniversary of the first lunar landing in 1994. Sietzen has won several awards for his space coverage, including a 1991 award for his newsletter coverage of the space shuttle given by the Newsletter Association of America, and Excellence in Magazine Publishing awarded for Ad Astra magazine by the Magazine Design Council in 1999 and 2000.

The Space Transportation Association is an Arlington, Virginia based trade association that promotes commercial development of space transportation and related issues associated with access to space. Its members include The Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin, Aerojet, ATK-Thiokol Propulsion, United Space Alliance, AGI, and Bigelow Aerospace.

For Immediate Release Friday, February 1, 2002
For additional information contact:
Tidal W. McCoy 703-412-5978
Frank Sietzen 703-671-4116 (sietzen@erols.com)